58 OTHMAN (ABU QATADA) v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT In their submission, those reports showed that the GID had continually frustrated efforts to carry out monitoring. For example, in 2003 the International Committee of the Red Cross had been forced to suspend visits owing to breaches in visitation procedures by the GID; the UN Special Rapporteur had been prevented from carrying out private interviews. The GID continued to deny all allegations of ill-treatment. Internal redress for allegations was non-existent and criminal sanctions were inadequate. The few officers who had been convicted of torture had been given excessively lenient sentences. 181. The view of the third parties, which was based on interviews between Human Rights Watch and the head of Adaleh, was that the centre was a for-profit company which had not carried out any inspections. Nor had the centre privately or publicly expressed any concerns of ill-treatment in Jordanian detention facilities. B. Admissibility 182. The Court notes that this complaint is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of the Convention. It further notes that it is not inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible. C. Merits 1. General principles 183. First, the Court wishes to emphasise that, throughout its history, it has been acutely conscious of the difficulties faced by States in protecting their populations from terrorist violence, which constitutes, in itself, a grave threat to human rights (see, inter alia, Lawless v. Ireland (no. 3), 1 July 1961, §§ 28–30, Series A no. 3; Ireland v. the United Kingdom, 18 January 1978, Series A no. 25, Öcalan v. Turkey [GC], no. 46221/99, § 179, ECHR 2005-IV; Chahal, cited above, § 79; A and Others v. the United Kingdom, cited above, § 126; A. v. the Netherlands, no. 4900/06, § 143, 20 July 2010). Faced with such a threat, the Court considers it legitimate for Contracting States to take a firm stand against those who contribute to terrorist acts, which it cannot condone in any circumstances (Boutagni v. France, no. 42360/08, § 45, 18 November 2010; Daoudi v. France, no. 19576/08, § 65, 3 December 2009). 184. Second, as part of the fight against terrorism, States must be allowed to deport non-nationals whom they consider to be threats to national security. It is no part of this Court’s function to review whether an individual is in fact such a threat; its only task is to consider whether that